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1Israel traveled with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac. 2God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!”

He said, “Here I am.”

3He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation. 4I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph’s hand will close your eyes.”

5Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6They took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt—Jacob, and all his offspring with him, 7his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and he brought all his offspring with him into Egypt.

8These are the names of the children of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. 9The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 10The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. 11The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. 13The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron. 14The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. 15These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three. 16The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. 17The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. 18These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, even sixteen souls. 19The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin. 20To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. 21The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. 22These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen. 23The son of Dan: Hushim. 24The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. 25These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob: all the souls were seven. 26All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his direct offspring, in addition to Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were sixty-six. 27The sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, who came into Egypt, were seventy.

28Jacob sent Judah before him to Joseph, to show the way before him to Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen. 29Joseph prepared his chariot, and went up to meet Israel, his father, in Goshen. He presented himself to him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. 30Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.”

31Joseph said to his brothers, and to his father’s house, “I will go up, and speak with Pharaoh, and will tell him, ‘My brothers, and my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32These men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.’ 33It will happen, when Pharaoh summons you, and will say, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34that you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we, and our fathers:’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”

Person

Joseph (Mary's Husband)

Father Jacob
Biography | Jeffrey Kershner

Joseph is known for being a “just man” (Matt 1:19) and for quickly and wholeheartedly responding to God’s guidance in regard to raising Jesus. When he sought to secretly divorce Mary he was told by an angel to marry her and obeyed the angel’s command. When Herod issued the order to murder all the infant boys in Bethlehem, an angel told Joseph to flee to Egypt, which he obeyed immediately (Matt 2:13-15). He kept his family safe in Egypt until an angel told him it was safe to return to Israel. Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple to be circumcised, and went to Jerusalem for Passover each year with friends and relatives (Luke 2:41), in obedience to Mosaic Law. By trade he was a construction worker, a more accurate translation of the Greek word (Mark 6:3), but near the time of the birth of Jesus was considered poor enough to offer two doves as a sacrifice rather than a goat or bull (Luke 2:24). Joseph is not mentioned after Jesus' twelfth year and probably died sometime between then and when Jesus began His ministry (Nixon, "Joseph in the New Testament" 610).

Person & place data: Theographic Bible Metadata by Robert Rouse (Viz.Bible), CC BY-SA 4.0.